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Sin City A Dame To Kill For Flops At The US Box Office

Nine years after the original film was released, the belated sequel to Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City has opened to a deeply underwhelming $6.1 million at the US box office. Although this figure is an estimate, a quick look at its Friday and Saturday figures of just over $2 million a piece gives a projected final weekend tally between $6-7 million. Unlike last week’s poor performance of The Expendables 3, A Dame To Kill for didn’t have any problems with an online leak but opened to less than half of what Expendables 3 managed.

Back in 2005, Sin City pulled in $29.1 million over its debut weekend for a domestic total of $74 million ($158 million worldwide). This puts the belated sequel around 80% below the opening of the first and gives it a slender chance of breaking even on its theatrical release. Reviews for A Dame To Kill For have been mixed but mostly positive, so what has caused this huge drop off for a franchise we all wanted to see flourish? I caught the movie over the weekend and for the most part this sequel retains the feels of the original, the 3D is surprisingly ineffectual considering how well suited this stark noir world is to the third dimension. That aside, A Dame To Kill For was a solid sequel that will entertain those who enjoyed the original, so where have all the Sin City fans gone?

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A key factor will be the nine year gap, sequels tend to be released within 2-3 years of the original to build on the momentum, this was the initial plan but for a variety of reasons Rodriguez and Miller couldn’t get their sequel ready any sooner. Since Sin City, Rodriguez hasn’t had a bonafide hit at the box office with The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Shorts and Spy Kids 4 failing to make an impact. I adored his half of Grindhouse (Planet Terror) and the first Machete was pretty good, the misguided sequel Machete Kills was a joke too far and slap dash filmmaking beyond the genre they were spoofing.

Other new entires in the US included, teen drama If I Stay debuted at number 3 and the football themed When The Game Stands Tall came in fifth. Guardians of the Galaxy is set to take the top spot again after four weeks on release with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles slipping one place into second.